Know-how in the fields of protein structure, function, folding and evolution, with a special focus on metalloproteins. Frontline techniques such as crystallography, time-resolved spectroscopy, protein engineering and bioinformatics.Main research topics:(a) Structural biology of Schistosome: schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitic disease of developing countries. We aim to solve the 3D structure of several parasite’s proteins, in collaboration with CNR Inst. of Cell Biology and Pasteur Inst. of Lille (F), as possible drug and/or vaccine targets.(b) Hemoglobins as “blood substitutes”: engineering, expressing and characterising site-directed mutants of human Hb, suitable to be transfused in emergency. Multiple positions have been identified to be responsible for modulating the reactivity vs NO and the stability of the oligomer.(c) Polyketides antibiotics synthesis: the goal is to characterise the enzymes involved in the Streptomyces’ biosynthetic pathway of antibiotics as erythromycin, in collaboration with Biotica Ltd. (Cambridge, GB).(d) Redox proteins: the proteins under study are P. aeruginosa’s nitrite-reductase (NiR), mammalian cytochrome-c oxidase (Cox) and flavo-rubredoxins (Flrd) from Trichomonas and Giardia. NiR is an enzyme involved in denitrification; we sake to understand the biophysics of the redox cycle by spectroscopic and structural analyses. Investigating the interactions of Cox with NO will give insights into the mechanisms of cellular respiration and its regulation. The role of parasitic Flrd in detoxification of NO would help understanding the pathogens’ defence mechanisms and lead to the discovery of specific drug targets.(e) Folding, misfolding and protein stability: folding intermediates and/or transition states of globular proteins are studied to unveil mechanisms. Such a fundamental approach has a physiopathological significance since misfolding is crucial in neurodegenerative diseases.(f) Heme-proteins structural dynamics: characterisation of reaction intermediates and of internal cavities role, to understand the relationships between spectroscopic and time-resolved crystallographic measurements, in collaboration with ESRF (Grenoble, F).(g) Plants’ defence mechanisms: structural study of proteins involved in plants’ response to pathogens. Plants inhibitors have a common 3D fold, solved in this lab, with specificity of recognition. We aim at solving the structure of the inhibitor-target complex, in coll. with the Dept. of Plant Biology.